صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Free Church of Scotland.

REPORT

OF

SELECT COMMITTEE ON SUSTENTATION FUND.

THE General Assembly having, at its meeting on the 28th of May 1846, appointed a Select Committee,

First, "To devise a plan for distributing the Central Fund for the support of the Ministry, on principles that may meet with the general approbation of the Church;" Secondly, To lay before the Assembly "what "what appears to them the best and wisest system for regulating the payment of supplements to Ministers ;"

Thirdly, To report their opinion" on the subject of retiring allowances to aged and infirm Ministers."

And having, on the 29th of May 1846, enjoined the same Committee,

Fourthly, To consider and report respecting" Seatrents and the disposal of the funds arising therefrom:"

The Committee report that, at their first meeting, on the 28th July 1846, in order to the more effectual performance of the delicate and arduous task entrusted to them, they appointed a Sub-Committee, consisting of the Rev. W. K. Tweedie, Mr Speirs, Mr J. C. Brodie, and Mr Hog, all residing in or near Edinburgh, to obtain information regarding the working of the different plans, the productiveness of the Associations, &c. &c., and to report.

Accordingly, the Sub-Committee examined a considerable number of witnesses, and recorded their examinations. They also addressed a series of queries to each of the Presbyteries in the Church, and obtained in answer a large volume of letters containing much valuable information; all which were presented to the Committee, and are now laid on the table of the Assembly.

A

Having obtained the information and opinions here referred to, the Committee proceeded to consider, in succession, the topics remitted to them by the General Assembly, directing their attention, in the first place, to the devising of a plan for the distribution of the Central Fund.

I. After the most anxious and careful deliberation, and a full discussion of the subject, the Committee have recorded their unanimous opinion, " that, for a permanent arrangement, the equal dividend presented fewest objections, and that, sooner or later, it should be the plan on which the Church should proceed."

The Committee did not come to this conclusion without weighing the merits of other plans of distribution, more especially what is known under the name of the "one and half" or 50 per cent. system, already partially adopted; and the graduated-scale plan of the lamented Mr John Hamilton, strongly advocated by him in his examination before the Sub-Committee.

It is hardly necessary to remind the Assembly, that, by the first of these a maximum being fixed-it was proposed that each congregation should receive for the stipend of its minister its contribution to the Central Fund, and 50 per cent more; and that this rule should be gradually applied, as congregations became vacant, to the whole Church.

The benevolent and sanguine author of this plan assumed, that in every congregation there are capabilities which are not called into exercise, pecuniary resources which only require to be drawn forth; and, in the next place, that in every congregation in which vital Christianity flourishes, there is a desire to provide for the comfort and respectability of the minister, which only needs to be stimulated in order to its producing its full effect. He fondly hoped that the success of the experiment in some of the smallest and poorest congregations, would provoke to emulation all the congregations in the Church; and that, by diminishing the sum necessary to make up the deficiencies of the poorer congregations, the means would be procured for extending the ministrations of the gospel by the Free Church to every corner of our land.

Respect for the memory of the venerated and distinguished man by whom this plan was devised, naturally creates the desire that it should be found to have succeeded. But the experiment has been made: the plan has been in operation for three years, and has failed. In some instances there has been apparent success, but it is only apparent. It has been obtained, not by an increase in the funds of associations-the only steady and permanent sources of revenue-but by remitting to the Central Fund moneys which, but for the one-and-half system, would have been kept and used as supplement, or applied to local purposes. This cannot be continued. Local wants must be supplied; and the remittances to which we have alluded will cease. On the other hand, the remittances by congregations have been, in some instances, so small, as to render the sum due to the ministers altogether inadequate to their subsistence; and it has been found necessary to supplement their income from the funds of the Home Mission, an expedient which nothing but dire necessity can justify.

With a few exceptions, the opinion of the Committee's correspondents, and of the persons examined by the Committee, is unfavourable to the plan. The grounds on which they rest that opinion are chiefly these:-1st, That it creates an invidious distinction between different classes of ministers, depressing some, and exalting others. 2dly, That in those cases where the congregation do not respond to the appeal, the minister suffers for their fault. 3dly, That, more than any other plan, it makes the minister dependent on the good-will of his congregation, and subjects him to a temptation from which he ought to be free. 4thly, That, considering the appeal as addressed to the minister, it places him in a most unfavourable position for pleading with his people on behalf of the Central Fund. With an opinion resting on these grounds, and so generally expressed, the Committee feel that they cannot but recommend that the operation of the oneand-half system should ultimately cease.

Another plan, the merits of which it was the duty of the Committee to weigh before coming to a conclusion on this subject, was that of the late Mr Hamilton. It was communicated to some of his friends in the Church

about three years ago; and, on his examination by the Sub-Committee, referred to in the beginning of this Report, he expressed his conviction that, if carried into operation, it would secure an adequate revenue, and give universal satisfaction. He proposed "that the whole payments made for the maintenance of ministers

should be thrown into one Central Fund, from which each minister should draw his ENTIRE stipend; the amount in each instance being regulated according to the place which his congregation holds in a scale, showing the relative amount of contributions that may be made to the one Central Sustentation Fund by all the congregations of the Church." He proposed that the minimum stipend should be fixed at £120 that it should rise in proportion to the increase of the contributions—and, after reaching £200, should rise at a ratio, decreasing with every successive rise of contribution, thus practically forming a maximum stipend not to be surpassed.

The plan is recommended by its simplicity. To the liberal-minded members of the Church, it presents the same inducements as hitherto to continue or increase their subscriptions. It would silence those who complain of unequal or partial distribution; and, if there be any Deacons' Courts inclined to abuse their power to the injury of their minister, it would effectually restrain them.

The Committee are persuaded, however, that many congregations would not agree to the plan now described; and without a universal agreement it would not accomplish the ends proposed. They are also unanimously of opinion, that, though a universal concurrence were obtained, and the habit of providing, in part, for the minister's stipend by church-door collections should cease, the sum which would in that case flow into the Central Fund would be greatly inferior to that which is now obtained for the same purpose by associations and church-door collections united. Besides, the proposed plan involves a radical change, a complete revolution in the present system, which ought not to be attempted without certain prospect of success. For these reasons the Committee have no hesitation in regarding Mr Hamilton's plan as inadmissible.

Other modes of distribution have been proposed by the Committee's correspondents, all which are liable to similar and still stronger objections than those which have now been urged to Mr Hamilton's. Some proceed on suppositions which, in the opinion of your Committee, cannot be realised; others are wanting in that simplicity which is essentially necessary to the acceptance and right working of every scheme for the distribution of a common fund. What is the best scheme is a question exceedingly difficult of solution. The Committee are not ashamed to say, that, with their utmost efforts, they have not been able to devise or fix on any new plan essentially different from that which is now in operation; that, in their opinion, the plan of an equal dividend is liable to fewer objections than any other; and that, sooner or later, it ought to be the plan on which the Church should proceed.

Having resolved to recommend to the Assembly that the one-and-half rule should ultimately cease, the Committee next proceeded to consider whether its abolition should be gradual or immediate.

On this point they were not altogether unanimous. One member of the Committee in particular, though desirous, if it were practicable, to continue the one-and-half rule in a modified form—that is, by fixing a minimum— was of opinion, that, having determined that the operation of the rule should cease, it should cease forthwith, and that all the ministers of the Church should instantly be placed on the equal dividend. The majority, after repeated discussions, and mature deliberation, were of a different opinion. It was argued that, if all the ministers now under the one-and-half rule were at once put on the equal dividend, this would add so considerably to the drafts on the Central Fund, that injustice would be done to the efforts now being put forth to raise the annual stipend of each minister to £150; it would dishearten those contributors who had made additions to their annual payments on the supposition that there should be no alteration on the present mode of distribution, and thus be injurious to both classes-to ministers under the one-and-half rule, as well as to ministers under the equal dividend.

« السابقةمتابعة »